Initially, hydrocarbon-containing fluids may flow unassisted from an oil well. The period of unassisted flow is typically brief, and might not occur. For such oil wells, production rates typically drop exponentially once the oil well ceases to be a “gusher”. Artificial lift systems are used to enhance the rates at which the oil is brought to the surface and improve the economics of oil extraction. There are eight main types of artificial lift systems: rod lift systems, gas lift systems, progressing cavity pumps (PCPs), electric submersible pumps (ESPs), plunger lift systems, hydraulic lift systems, foam lift systems, and jet pumps. Different types of artificial lift systems can be used for different oil wells within the same field. In addition, different kinds of artificial lift systems can be used within the same well at different points in time depending on the well conditions and what kind of lift is believed will maximize production.
Although an artificial lift system may be indispensable in oil wells not exhibiting unassisted production fluid flow, a key challenge is determining the best type of artificial lift system to install in the well. This decision is a complex process involving many factors ranging from technical feasibility, operating costs, maintenance practices, reliability, target productions, engineering design, historical preferences and expert hunches among them. As a result, the selection of an artificial lift system may be made by a process which is far from optimal.
Conventional artificial lift selector tools require significant data inputs and/or had difficult-to-use software interfaces. In other cases, rules used to drive decisions were too narrowly cast and insufficiently validated. Thus there is a need for expert-system based artificial lift selector tools combining rigorous technical and economic analytics with excellent user interaction to provide credible recommendations.